What’s Working Well in my Classroom

Happy Friday friends! I am a little late on my What’s Working Well in my Classroom post this week, but I have been busy getting prepared to speak at our district’s Kindergarten conference with Dr. Jean! This will be my first time presenting to more than 30 people, so I am super excited! Thank you to all of my friends who have been supportive, helpful and even donated products to this conference. A post coming soon on how the conference went down!

This week in Kindergarten we are talking (and tasting apples), as well as learning numbers 7-10 and letters, Tt, Aa, and Rr. Here are a few activities that I hope help you in your classroom!

When starting my apple theme, I always ask the students what they know about apples, I wrote their answers in green. Next, I read an informational text on apples and then we add more facts to our apple anchor chart.

I think every Kindergarten teacher most likely brings apples into the classroom and either cuts them open to see the inside and/or does taste testing. I decided to try to make an interactive ‘Build the Apple’ anchor chart this year, along with labeling activity and it was a success!

I made and cut out all of the parts for my interactive anchor chart first. Next, I cut open an apple in front of the class and we investigated and named all of the parts of the apple. Then together as a class, we ‘built’ our apple, affixing parts of the apple on the chart, then added the labels.

Using this method, I found that my students really made a connection with the information. Then the students labeled their own apple. This was a great introduction to labeling. Here is the apple labeling (from Niki Thigpen) that I used for my students.

We have also been practicing our sorting skills.

We sorted these apples in math and the students got to decide how to sort them, either by size or color.

Our Kindergarten introduces 2-3 letters a week. I have an alphabet sight word book to go with each letter. These books are perfect for practicing Read to Self and recognizing letters and sight words. I start off by putting all of the words to the book on my pocket chart and we read it whole group. The books stays in the pocket chart, and the students can practice reading it and pointing out letters and words they know, during the Pocket Chart station.

The following day after introduction, I give each student their own book to put together, color, and practice reading. This book then goes in their book basket, to read during Read to Self time.

I wanted to share 2 games that I purchased at Lakeshore for my math stations for this beginning part of the year and practicing counting. Both of these games have become quick favorites with my students and so worth the price! The games are Unlock It Number Match game and Counting Tubes and are self-checking for assessment.

We are also finishing up rhyming and have introduced syllables. I bought this game from Marshalls and the kids are enjoying this self-checking game as well. Don’t forget that games are a great way for students to practice and it’s great for me to visually assess students using this station.

Hope everyone has had a fabulous week! So tell me, what’s working in your classroom?